70’s Flashback

This one is Mary’s fault. 

Back in December, she signed us up for a macrame class at our local fancy plant shop (making the gnomes) and I remembered how much fun knotting can be.

Yes, I could have bought plant hangers on Am*zon for cheap but what’s the fun in that? The idea is to take advantage of the great light from our front window and also keep plants out of kitty’s reach. 

Pattern is ‘No Tassel Easy Plant Hanger’ by Marching North (here). Great directions - there's a free (with ads) and a pay (no ads) version - plus YouTube videos of various knots and the step-by-step knot-along. 

It took me two evenings to finish, and it’s not perfect, but I had fun and love how it looks. 

Also added a disco ball planter. So sparkly and silly.

Mary and I are going to make another hanger (this one) on Mother’s Day, crafting together via FaceTime. Can’t wait!

Also, Coco Chai (her now official name) did great at the vet. She wasn’t happy about it - she jumped off the exam table and tried to make herself invisible by pressing her nose in a corner - but she cooperated and didn’t make a fuss. Such a good little girl!

Entertaining the Teenager

So far Cyrus has... had a driving lesson in the van - CA roads are scary, she says. I think the plan is to bring her car out when she returns in August, so van-ing will be temporary. At least she won’t be stuck waiting for us to drive her somewhere.

Showed her how to repot African violets - she has her own now - and the two orchids she bought this week. One of the orchids has something weird going on with its roots so we’re waiting on advice to deal with that. (And yes, I am trying to hook her into allllllll my favorite hobbies.)

Tried to interest her in learning macrame but she wasn’t a fan (she braided the cords instead.) I haven’t given up though! She liked the plant hanger I made so we may try another project soon. She’s also been through my remaining yarn stash and has two new projects on the hook. 

Playing with Coco has been the most entertaining. Kitty has an appointment tomorrow to get microchipped so we’ll see how mad at us she is afterward. 

Planning to either go thrifting - looking for more cut crystal bowls to hold plant pots (not many people want them apparently, they can be pretty inexpensive) - or go visit her potential college and arrange a counseling appointment. 

All that, plus the beach adventure, in the first week - three more to go before she heads back to CO. 

Feline Paparazzi

Coco* has mostly hung out in the upstairs bedroom since she arrived on Saturday. She’s very shy and hasn’t been interested in exploring. 

Hanging with Cyrus

She’s willing to interact with me if I go upstairs and she loooooooves Cyrus. She’s also not food-motivated so our plans to bribe her with treats has been a bust.

So imagine my surprise when Cyrus started sending me photos last night about 1 am. 

Coco decided to be brave and sloooooowly made her way down the stairs, with proud Cyrus literally documenting her every step. 

She explored most of the downstairs before bolting back to ‘her’ room. 

Hoping she’ll be comfortable enough to use her cat tree and hang out with us in another week or so.

Isn’t she pretty?? 

* Cyrus is pushing for a name change to Pepper, short for Peppermint Patty, in keeping with my history of naming cats for candy bars. Maybe…. but I still like Coco(a) ….

Touristy

Cyrus wanted to visit the beach so we headed north to Santa Barbara and our favorite on-the-sand restaurant. 

It was super windy, unfortunately, so we wound up eating on the enclosed deck, with a great view of a couple of (crazy!) windsurfers heading into the extremely choppy water. 

She also wanted to visit a pier. Thought about going to Ventura’s but Santa Barbara Pier has shops, restaurants and a small aquarium that we love. Cyrus got to touch a ray (“ewww, slimy” 😂) and a sand shark (“very cool.”) 

Octopus, seahorse and jelly fish

Upstairs, the octopus was very active, putting on quite a show but my favorite was the abalone. 

Don’t think I’ve ever seen a live one, or at least one with its tentacles (?) on display. Very neat!

On the way back, we stopped in Carpinteria at the orchid warehouse (only because Cyrus wanted to, not for me of course… 🙄) 

and at a yarn store in Ventura to scope out the possibilities. Tonight I asked what she wanted to do tomorrow - “maybe rest??” 😂

Welcome Times Two

This is Chai, 

also known as Chai Fox Princess Pie* (want to guess which name was Jac’s idea??), who we are going to call Coco. 

 Making friends with Rachel

Rachel’s BFF in CO is moving and needed to rehome her cats. 

Addy suggested I take this sweet little girl and offered to bring Chai with her when she flew out to spend a month with us. 

Who could resist those pretty blue eyes?

 Clean bill of health at the vet

Coco is a 6-year old Snowshoe (a rare breed I’d never heard of) and weighs in at just under 9 pounds. She’s sweet, affectionate and has handled all the travel and disruption like a champ. 

Pet meeeeeeeee

She hid under the bed after today’s airplane ride but when I checked on her an hour later, she climbed right into my lap like we’re BFF’s. Such a sweetie.

 Helping Addy pack 

When Lily passed away two years ago, I said no more cats. Apparently the Cat Distribution Network had other ideas. And I’m ok with that. 😍

* Addy wants to keep the name Chai. Leo suggested Pumpkin or Fox. Jac’s idea was Princess Pie. Leia said ‘it’s finals week!! I don’t knooooooooow.’ 😂

Working Backwards

One of my chores this week, in preparing for our new 4-legged resident, was to figure out which of my new plants are toxic to critters. 

Orchids? Non-toxic!

Turns out there’s a lot. It would be so much easier if we’d done this in reverse - get the critter and then the plants. But Addy didn’t make her successful pitch until the plant habitat was well established. 

My favorite Chinese Evergreens (Aglaonema)? Toxic. Amaryllis, anthurium, snake plant? All toxic. Out of the 20+ varieties I have, at least 8 are big no-no’s.

What to do? Two plants moved outside (amaryllis and Pothos) and several moved to the highest shelf. 

Matt gave me this (toxic!) Monstera Adansonii and I just finished repotting its root-bound little self, so I’d really like to keep it. It’s too heavy for the top shelf so we’re going to try blocking it off. Crossing fingers it works. (Pictures of the new critter tomorrow!)

Finally!

Teena and I FaceTimed back on April 12 to work on this month’s Winter Wonderland block. Teena finished hers that same day…

I got 3/4 of the way through mine and hated it decided it wasn’t living up to its potential. 😜

I prepped new pieces last week - it’s a good tv watching project - and sewed it up today. Much better. Pattern is ‘Baubles’ (here) by Full Bobbin Designs and included both the string and no-string versions. Love her patterns. 

Also, big changes are coming in… 5… 4… (Saturday. It’s happening Saturday.)